By ARIEL FERNÁNDEZ, ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ and JOHN MYERS JR., Associated Press
SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba (AP) — People in the northern Caribbean were digging the devastation of Hurricane Melissa Thursday as deaths from the catastrophic storm increased.
The rumble of big machinery, the whine of chainsaws and the chopping of machetes echoed across southeastern Jamaica as government workers and residents began clearing roads in an effort to reach isolated communities hit by a direct hit from one of the most powerful Atlantic storms registered.
Stunned residents milled about, some staring at their roofless homes and the waterlogged belongings strewn around them.
“I have no home now,” said a saddened Sylvester Guthrie, a resident of Lacovia in the southern parish of St. Elizabeth, as he held his bicycle, the only asset of value left after the storm.
“I have land in another location that I can rebuild, but I need help,” the remediation worker pleaded.
Emergency flights began landing at Jamaica’s main international airport, which reopened late Wednesday, with crews distributing water, food and other basic supplies.
“The devastation is enormous,” said Jamaican Transport Minister Daryl Vaz.
Some Jamaicans wondered where they would live.
“I’m homeless now, but I have to be hopeful because I have life,” said Sheryl Smith, who lost the roof of her home.
Authorities said they have found at least four bodies in southwestern Jamaica.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness said up to 90% of roofs in the southwestern coastal community of Black River have been destroyed.
“Black River is what you would describe as ground zero,” he said. “People are still coming to terms with the destruction.”
More than 25,000 people remained confined to shelters across the western half of Jamaica, while 77% of the island was without power.
Death and flooding in Haiti
Melissa also caused catastrophic flooding in Haiti, reportedly killing at least 25 people and leaving 18 others missing, mainly in the southern region of the country.
Steven Guadard, who lives in Petit-Goâve, said Melissa killed his entire family.
“I had four children at home: a one-month-old baby, a seven-year-old baby, an eight-year-old and another baby about to turn four,” he said.
According to the Haitian Civil Protection Agency, Hurricane Melissa killed at least 20 people in Petit-Goâve, including 10 children. It also damaged more than 160 homes and destroyed 80 others.
Officials warned that 152 people with disabilities in Haiti’s southern region needed emergency food assistance. More than 11,600 people remained sheltered in Haiti because of the storm.
“It is a sad moment for the country,” said Laurent Saint-Cyr, president of Haiti’s transitional presidential council.
He said officials expect the death toll to rise and noted that the government is mobilizing all its resources to search for people and provide emergency assistance.
Slow recovery in Cuba
Meanwhile, people in Cuba began clearing blocked roads and highways with heavy equipment and even called for help from the military, which rescued people trapped in isolated communities and at risk of landslides.
No fatalities were reported after Civil Defense evacuated more than 735,000 people in eastern Cuba. Slowly they began to return home.
The small, iconic town of El Cobre in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba was one of the hardest hit by Hurricane Melissa.
Home to some 7,000 people, it is also the site of the Basilica of Our Lady of Charity, patron saint of Cuba and deeply revered by Catholics and practitioners of Santería, the Afro-Cuban religion.
“We endured this very badly. So much wind, so much wind. Zinc roofs were torn off, some houses completely collapsed. It was a disaster,” said Odalys Ojeda, a 61-year-old retiree, as she looked at the sky from her living room, where the roofing and other parts of the house had been ripped off.
Even the basilica was damaged.
“Here in the sanctuary, the carpentry, stained glass and even masonry suffered extensive damage,” said Father Rogelio Dean Puerta. “The city was also hit hard. Many people lost their homes and belongings. We need help.”
In the more rural areas outside the city of Santiago de Cuba, water continued to accumulate in vulnerable homes on Wednesday evening as residents returned from their shelters to rescue beds, mattresses, chairs, tables and fans they had raised before the storm.
A televised civil protection meeting chaired by President Miguel Díaz-Canel did not provide an official damage estimate. However, officials from the affected provinces – Santiago, Granma, Holguín, Guantánamo and Las Tunas – reported losses of roofs, power lines, fiber optic telecommunications cables, closed roads, isolated communities and losses to banana, cassava and coffee plantations.
Officials said the rain was beneficial for reservoirs and in easing severe drought in eastern Cuba.
Many communities were still without electricity, internet and telephone services due to faulty transformers and power lines.
A historic storm
When Melissa came ashore in Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane with top winds of 186 mph on Tuesday, tying strength records for Atlantic hurricanes coming ashore, both in terms of wind speed and barometric pressure. It was still a Category 3 hurricane when it made landfall again in eastern Cuba early Wednesday.
A hurricane warning remained in effect for Bermuda on Thursday. An earlier warning for the central and southeastern Bahamas was lifted, but the U.S. Weather Bureau warned of additional rainfall of up to 10 inches.
Hurricane conditions were expected to persist through the morning in the southeastern Bahamas, where dozens of people were evacuated.
Melissa was a Category 2 storm with sustained winds of nearly 105 mph on Thursday morning and was moving north-northeast at 21 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The hurricane was located about 475 miles northeast of the central Bahamas and about 600 miles southwest of Bermuda.
Melissa was forecast to pass near or west of Bermuda late Thursday and possibly strengthen further before weakening Friday.
Rodriguez reported from Havana and Myers Jr. reporting from Kingston, Jamaica. Associated Press reporters Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and David Constantin in Petit-Goâve, Haiti, contributed to this report.
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